For the past few months I've been busily sketching, sculpting, and researching what it takes to make a run of my very own tiki mugs.

Searching through the TC forums for "how to make your own mug" I see that the general consensus is: get a book. Good advice. I'm lucky enough to have a smattering of pottery experience and a wife who is one of the best mold-makers in the business. Of course, she wouldn't make the mold FOR me, but... teach a man to fish as they say...

The original sculpt was Van Aiken oil-based clay, because I' used to it and had some laying around. I'd include a picture, but the mold making procedure didn't leave it looking too pretty, which was unfortunately a sign of things to come.

Here's a shot of the finished mold

If I were a professional of any kind I'd have run a MASTER out of silicone. But I'm a lazy sod and wanted to get right into the clay and muck.

I bought my slip premixed from the local pottery store. The more I learn about pottery the more I realize it's like sailing. A weekend to learn, a lifetime to master. So, not wanting to get myself in too deep I let the experts mix the slip for me.
My first pour was by the book, and didn't work too well. Undercuts in my sculpt and mold did a number on the piece as I tried to extract it from it's plaster prison. That and I didn't let the slip sit long enough, so the mug was very thin-walled. So I tossed it into my reclamation bucket and took a dremel and exacto knife to the mold, to minimize some of my undercutting.
The 2nd pull went a bit better, but still required more time in the mold than I gave it. Also, more scraping of the mold itself. I cleaned up this pull and kept it for future glaze testing.
The 3rd pull was good enough to clean up and mark L(for low fire) #1/50. I decided on 50 because of the amount of work that needs to go into cleaning up each pull, which I hope to minimize NEXT time. I only hope the mold lives long enough to give me 50 mugs. I've since cleaned up #2, and poured #3:

Here's the first two (darker, still drying) mugs and my 2nd pull (center w/chip) waiting for their eventual bisque firing:

There are two other sculpts almost ready to mold. But due to lessons learned on the first mug, I keep going back to trim them down, smoothe out potential trouble spots, etc. My wife has become inspired as well. Her first sculpt is nearly done and puts my work to shame.
I'll keep you all updated as to progress with glazes, etc. Hopefully this will all work out for the best and I can keep getting these ideas out of my head and into my collection.

Those mugs look pretty cool. Thank you for sharing the step by step process. I find this stuff very interesting. Good luck on the rest of your project. Be shure to let us know if you will be selling any of these.
Later,
Spermy

Thanks all! It's been alot of fun! It's amazing what one can accomplish when there aren't any good video games in the house. Har har. No, seriously... I have a problem.

Slacks(or anyone): I'd love to hear any wisdom you've gleaned from your experiences. Or at least help point me to other postings that might be on TC that I haven't found yet.

Whale: The first ten or so I'm giving away to friends and stuff, but if the mold holds up for 50 pulls, I'll unload them on the tiki enthusiast community. Probably through Ebay. But I'm also interested in trading them for other mugs. In particular, anyone's original homemade mugs.

hey RD... wow ~ looks like you're having fun with your new hobby! how long does it take from the time you pour till you can re-use the mold for the next mug? (i'm presuming, the mold sucks out some of the water from the slip?)

can't wait to see those glazed..

and i'd be willing to trade for homemade tiki shaped cookies! (since i dont carve or do ceramics!)

So I've been quiet lately, but very busy. Besides working and other obligations, Katie and I now have some 90+ mugs at various stages of production. Just last week I finally pulled a bunch of low-fire glazed ones out of the kiln.

The first design I'm calling "Primo"....

Primo #1/50 (ta dah!!)

I'm having tons of fun messing around with different glazes and colors. As a result, these things are kinda like snowflakes. Here's a couple other examples:

Primo #2/50 is meant to be the cadillac of the series with all the extra coloring. I'm not sold yet, so I'm going to patch it up and do a re-fire.

Primo #3 & #4 were also a pain to glaze, so of course they're the ones all of my friends want. Here's a glimpse at the back. I've decided to put "Rum Demon" on the back of every design. Or at least an "r.d."

Primo #13 is almost the same as #1, but with a glossy black glaze that I think is preferable. #1 also has the hot red inside.

Primo #14 is all red, in and out, but I'm thinking of re-firing it with the same treatment as #16.

Primo #16

Primo #17

Primo #18 was a bit of an accident. It's supposed to be clear glaze, but something happened. Some say my brush was dirty, but this guy is filthy all over, it almost looks like the glaze reacted to the way the air flowed around it in the kiln. I dunno. But I like him just the way he is.

There's more, too much to show here. I hope to put up a permanent website so everyone can see each of these monsters as they're born. Also, the folks I'm gifting or trading one to can look online to see which ones are available and pick the design they like. Once that's been taken care of, the rest will be listed on Ebay in numerical order, one a week until they are gone.

Meanwhile, there's plenty of work left to do before we can unleash these on the public. Some fell over in the kiln and bled onto each other, so I'll have some touch-up refiring to do.

Katie's first mugs (we'll call it design #3, codename "P.D.") are coming out great, but that will have to wait for another day. Designs #4 and #5 are in the mold-making process. Meanwhile, here's a teaser shot of Rum Demon mug design #2 "Fred"